-In the U.S., 4.39 pounds of trash per day and up to 56 tons of trash per year are created by the average person.
-Only about one-tenth of all solid garbage in the United States gets recycled.
-Every year we fill enough garbage trucks to form a line that would stretch from the earth, halfway to the moon.
-Each day the United States throws away enough trash to fill 63,000 garbage trucks.
-Almost 1/3 of the waste generated the U.S. is packaging.
-Diapers: An average child will use between 8,000 -10,000 disposable diapers ($2,000 worth) before being potty trained. Each year, parents and babysitters dispose of about 18 billion of these items. In the United States alone these single-use items consume nearly 100,000 tons of plastic and 800,000 tons of tree pulp. We will pay an average of $350 million annually to deal with their disposal and, to top it off, these diapers will still be in the landfill 300 years from now. -Americans throw away 570 diapers per second. That's 49 million diapers per day.
-Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.
-Every year, Americans make enough plastic film to shrink-wrap the state of Texas.
-The amount of glass bottles Americans throw away every two weeks would have filled both World Trade Center towers.
-Americans throw away enough aluminum cans to rebuild our commercial air fleet every three months, and enough iron and steel to supply all our nation's automakers every day.
-Throwing away one aluminum can wastes as much energy as if that can were 1/2 full of gasoline.
-In the U.S., an additional 5 million tons of waste is generated during the holidays. Four million tons of this is wrapping paper and shopping bags.
-Americans receive almost 4 million tons of junk mail every year. Most of it winds up in landfills.
-The average American uses 650 pounds of paper a year.
-Each year, Americans trash enough office paper to build a 12-foot wall from Los Angeles to New York City.
-Americans toss out enough paper & plastic cups, forks and spoons every year to circle the equator 300 times.
-The average American office worker goes through around 500 disposable cups every year.
-Nearly 44 million American workers purchase or eat lunch out every weekday.
-Americans make nearly 400 billion photocopies a year - about 750,000 copies every minute of every day.
-U.S. fax machines sent 30 billion faxes in 1990.
-U.S. businesses now use about 21 million tons of paper every year. That's about 175 pounds of paper for each American.
-Enough hazardous waste is generated in one year to fill the New Orleans Superdome 1,500 times over.
-New York City alone throws out enough garbage each day to fill the Empire State Building.
-In one day, Americans get rid of 20,000 cars and 4,000 trucks and buses.
-As of 1992, 14 billion pounds of trash were dumped into ocean annually around the world.
-Forty-three thousand tons of food is thrown out in the United States each day.
-Americans throw out about 270 million tires every year.
-Sixty-five billion aluminum soda cans are used each year.

Landfills
-Only two manmade structures on Earth are large enough to be seen from outer space: the Great Wall of China and the Fresh Kills landfill!
-Barges (which run 24 hours a day) deliver over 14,000 tons of New York City trash to Fresh Kills every day. (Notes: The Fresh Kills Landfills is closing soon and is only being kept open to receive debris from the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center Towers).
-In 1979, there were an estimated 18,500 landfills in the nation. In 1990 there were only about 6,300, and by 1995 it was estimated that only about 3,000 would still be open. In just 16 years the number of landfills dropped by 84%. During that same time there was an 80% increase in the amount of trash generated.
-Seventy percent of U.S. municipal solid waste gets buried in landfills.
-U.S. landfills are closing at the rate of 1 per day.

Waste and Natural Resource Use
-Every year, nearly 900,000,000 trees are cut down to provide raw materials for American paper and pulp mills.
-Each American exerts three times as much pressure on the natural environment as the global average.
-The average American, in one lifetime, uses: 18 tons of paper, 23 tons of wood, 16 tons of metal, and 32 tons of organic chemicals.
-America is home to 5% of the world's population, yet it consumes 1/3 of the Earth's timber and paper; making paper the largest part of the waste stream at 37.5% of the total waste stream.
-Every 4 quarts of oil discarded during an average oil change can contaminate 1 million gallons of water.
-People who change their own oil improperly dump the equivalent of 16 Exxon Valdez spills into the nation's sewers and landfills every year.

Recycling Works!
-1,500 aluminum cans are recycled every second in the U.S.
-Recycling an aluminum soda can saves 96% of the energy used to make a can from ore, and produces 95% less air pollution and 97% less water pollution.
-It takes the energy equivalent of half a soda can of gasoline to produce one soda can from bauxite ore.
-In 1986, 48.7% of all aluminum cans were being recycled. In 1990, that percentage increased to 63.6% and, in 1996, 63.5% were being recycled.
-The amount of paper recycled annually by the average American in 1995 was 301.8 lbs., increasing in 1996 to 329 lbs.
-Recycling one ton of cardboard saves over 9 cubic yards of landfill space.
-One ton of paper from recycled pulp saves 17 trees, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, 7,000 gallons of water, 4,200 kilowatt hours (enough to heat your home for half year), 390 gallons of oil, and prevents 60 pounds of air pollutants.
-Producing recycled white paper creates 74% less air pollutants, 35% less water pollutants, and 75% less process energy than producing paper from virgin fibers.
-Sixty percent of the world's lead supply comes from recycled batteries.
-It takes 90% less energy to recycle an aluminum can than to make a new one.

Seriously, still very excited!!

I'm now looking into rain catchment systems and tanks and reading lots of books and looking forward to this change.

I can't believe we're finally going to start walking the walk as far as off-gridding and living more sustainably. Sure, we'll likely go ahead and hook up to the electric grid for now, and use the existing septic system until we can afford to go solar and until we learn more about greywater systems. I just checked out Art Ludwigs "Create An Oasis" which is supposedly the manifesto on greywater solutions. Looking forward to sitting down with that later on! Wading through the article archives at Mother to figure out just how this rain water catchment system is going to work - we definitely don't want a well (I mean, have you READ "Plan B: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble"?).

Our *only* hesitation at this point is the kids. While they're excited about having more mom and dad time and being able to start doing more they're justifiably not that happy about leaving a neighborhood of friends. We *will* make playdates and make sure they get time with their friends, but obviously that's a concern when moving out to the country where the only playmated they'll have nearby are their cousins (a good thing to be sure, but still limited).

So much to do, so much to learn!!

We made the offer this morning. The waiting game begins. I know I was nervous about these changes previously, but all I feel is excitement now! I’m hoping they accept this first offer, but I still have a bit of room to negotiate.

We found out that while we need a Health Department inspection, we don’t need the septic system actually installed yet since we won’t be living there for a while. We’re going to drywall and put in wood floors first. I know that might sound like a lot for a mobile home, but we want it to have a certain feel (read: no synthetic wall-to-wall carpeting and panel walls). Scott, and myself to a lesser extent, will be doing the work.

I did ask the Health Dept about composting toilets and alternative greywater systems. He seemed at least knowledgeable about all of it, and even open to the right arrangements. I was very pleasantly surprised about that. We’re not ready to present a plan at this point, but good to know for future reference.

Adding, it's the end of the day and no call back. Frustrating! I hate waiting and now I'll have to wait until at least Monday. ARGH!

Things are moving much more quickly than expected on the "downsizing and moving to the country" front. I'm learning about building permits and septic systems and zoning, OH MY! We found the house we want - and yes, I'm calling it a house! We're actually going to buy a newer model mobile home and move it to our lot, do some renovating and making nice (as much as you really can to a mobile home anyway) then move out there. Of course in this mess is moving fees and getting a permit (which means we need to use the existing septic system which is nowhere near where we wanted to ideally put the mobile home...the other option is paying over four grand for a new septic system in the other location. Not gonna happen. And our local health department likely isn't going to approve a green system like a composting toilet, etc). Then there's the making an offer on the one we want and hoping we get ok'd - we're going to pay cash but can only afford a bit less than they want so hopefully they're willing to bargoon. ACK! I thought this was going to be easier.

Of course, in all this mess is selling our current house. We haven't even gotten it on the market yet! Our "master plan" is that we'll put the mobile home out there, work on it while we're still living here and get it ready then move out there. We didn't plan on doing it *this* soon, but a home we like came on the market. Three bedroom, two bath (more than we have now!) with a big garden tub in the master. It's hard to get past that "mobile home" feeling, but just knowing that we'll be much more financially secure and be able to do more and travel more...that makes it worthwhile. After a while, after we've done some researching and such, we do plan on trying to build a strawbale house or something similar but that's down the road.

I'm excited yet freaked by all this red tape I'm running into before we've even gotten started!

Yesterday, I attended services for a friend of ours who recently, and very unexpectedly passed away. She was 38. She had two young sons.

I'm not sure how to put my reaction to this. The tears were expected, the resulting unity I felt and still feel for our friends and family was not. I realized that while we are all different, there are too many similarities to overlook. It's easy to stay away from friends because I feel we're too "different" but I see now how that is never a good idea. I realized I need and want to spend time with our friends again, my friends, and make a real effort to do that. Even the ones whom I've had "issues" with in the past about seeming judgements over our choices. It's important that we look for the similarities and spend time together and enjoy one another because life is short, you never know. It's been too easy to cocoon myself away from people and use the kids as an excuse. I won't do that anymore. I'll start reaching out to people, to family members I've avoided, and I'll make an effort to be more open and accepting of our differences.

So my oldest kid turned NINE yesterday! How in hell is he 9 already?! I know we moms always say this but it really is true. Time seems to just fly by, and the older you are the quicker it seems to go by. My life has changed so dramatically in the last nine years. I think having my first child propelled me to changes that I hadn't even began to think about. With each additional baby, I was moved to make more and more changes.

Having a 9 year old is so different than having a 2 year old. Their needs are so complex and varying...a toddler has a handful of needs that in comparison seem easy enough to meet. Gage on the other hand will go from sweet little boy to raging teen-like behavior in the same day. He's caught between being my baby and being a young man. He bristles at these conflicting feelings as much as I do. He's all about Pokemon and robots, bowling and Gameboy. I'm finding lots of things we can share of late and that's enjoyable. We used to be hard pressed to find things we enjoyed together. Take his love of building and putting things together. I don't think in that way and it's hard for me to get excited about those kinds of activities. But I can talk Pokemon with the best of 'em and he'll turn to ME if he needs help with his video games. We both like cooking shows and a good chase around the backyard. It's a nice stage for the most part, and I hope we're able to keep talking and sharing as he gets older. He does have some anger issues, as do I, but he's working on them. We're teaching him skills to help curb the anger or at least deal with it constructively and I think it's working bit by bit.

He's a great kid..but then I think all my kids are fabulous. Because they are!

Okay, so I haven't whined about this in a while so indulge me. I'm feeling really awful about it today. I'm feeling ginormous and angry at the world. Not that it's the worlds fault that I eat way too much chocolate and have an affinity for baking things with incalculable amounts of fat and calories.

I'm whining about my weight again. When I first started blogging, I had just started a real effort to lose weight. I was successful in losing 40 lbs that first 4 months until Easter hit. Ever since then, Easter of 2003, I've been unable to regain that level of will or determination. I do for a few days or even a week but then it falls through. It's been up and down since then with a little more "up" these last few weeks. Apparently, I've gained almost 30 of those pounds back. I want to figure out why there are times when I can get serious about it and have great results then other times I can't even seem to get started. I've not had a good stretch of determination in a very long time. I need to get some but I'm not sure how.

It's this cycle of feeling bad about my weight then the negative self talk about how weak and ugly I am then the wanting to stuff my silly self with chocolate to feel better. That'll help, surely! And I can't even get to the point of doing it just for sake of my health. I have a strong family history of diabetes, high blood pressure and now breast cancer and I'm sitting around, fat as hell. I'm not just a bit chubby, I'm fat. Today when I managed to get my jeans on, I looked in the mirror and realized I bear a striking resemblance to a mushroom. Just get that big chunky sweater on quickly, woman!

I have moments where I think my husband should just look past this, but honestly, how can he? I'm not appealing in any way in this state. And can you see how this is leading to...you guessed it...more chocolate?!

I tell myself there are more important things in life than what I weigh..and that's true...to an extent. Life is more important than what I weigh and if I want to enjoy more OF life, I need to weigh less. That's a good motivator too, thinking about all the things I would feel better doing at a healthier weight.

I've said all this before though, haven't I? I KNOW what I should be doing and not doing. I know it. Hell, if I could just stick it out and lose 20 lbs I'd feel better. Just twenty!

I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't know why I don't have the strength to just live more healthfully and accept that I'll need to be vigilant about it for the rest of my life. I'm never going to be like Cameron Diaz who says she eats cheeseburgers and fries all the time and never works out. I wonder if it's all karma related. I have this theory that people who live lives of the rich and famous must have had some good karma from a previous life or something, like they get a freebie life to have little to no worries, just as karmic retribution for some good they've done in another incarnation. I'm believing that so I can squelch the desire to go clubbing them upside their vacuous little heads. lol

So anyway..I don't know why I go on and on about this problem. Things could be much worse. I really have been blessed (but see, even in typing that out I start telling myself "yes, you HAVE been blessed and you're taking advantage of it by not being the best YOU you can be!" that damned inner voice!)

Today, today, today...what do I want to purge myself of today...

I can't really think of anything. So I googled to see how Dean was doing in his bid for DNC chair. It's locked! I'm so stoked!! I am very much looking forward to his leadership of the DNC. A bit saddened that this means no run in 2008, but glad he's going to be in there, working to make changes where needed. And the DNC needs changes. Not changes to the right, not more bending to gain more conservative voters. No, I want left leaning changes. I want "liberal" to stop being a dirty word. I think Roemer was on the wrong track talking about moving to the right as well as his personal opinion on abortion. We definitely need a true liberal in leadership. That's not saying a liberal who will alienate everyone more right swinging, but someone who's personal opinions and values are in line with what the Democratic party stands for.

I don't like the fact that people such as Roemer talk about focusing more on "values" in a way that insinuates liberals have no values. Please. The Republicans aren't cornering the market in values in any way I can see. Being a fundamentalist Christian isn't the only way a person can claim to have "values". It just irritates me.

I'm watching all the changes and machinations with interest...I'm curious as to who's going to step out in 2008. At first I was a bit nervous that there was no real standout, but I'm less concerned about that now. I mean, four years ago not many people knew who Howard Dean was and I think he would have made a fabulous president. So for now I' m just waiting and watching and hoping agains hope that dubya doesn't fuck up beyond words in the meantime.

Everything's coming up roses!

Positive thinking, that. But in all honesty things are going pretty well right now. Precarious, but well.

The "well" is that we're all relatively healthy, bills will be paid up shortly thanks to a much larger than expected tax refund and with any luck we'll get our house on the market in the next month and start planning our downsized move to the country. The kids are even excited!

The "precarious" part is that Scott still has waves of that illness he had late fall and a few people at his company have gotten laid off in just the last two weeks. But we never really looked at that job as permanent, and maybe now he can go back to school for something he really wants to do. Sure we'll have to move, whether the house sells or not, but there ARE worse things than having financial trouble. On a related note, why the heck am I so zen lately?!

I just feel like things will work out, the world is not ending. I feel hopeful. I think a lot of it has to do with Spring approaching even with that layer of snow on the ground. I know we're on the other side of it for the most part. Sure we can get hit with some pretty heavy snow in Ohio well into April but it's still better than a December snowstorm, knowing you have at least a couple more months of dreary weather staring down the barrell.

This year is going to mean many changes for us, but I'm looking forward to them. I'm looking forward to moving to a smaller place with more land, more possibilities and fewer financial stresses.